Folding umbrella



June 21, 1955 H. J. KIEL TAL FOLDING UMBRELLAJ 3 Sheets-Sheet l FiledAug. 18, 1954' June 21, 1955 H. J. KIEL ET AL FOLDING UMBRELLA FiledAug. 18, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 21, 1955 H. .1. KlEL ETAL FOLDINGUMBRELLA Fn'ed Aug. 18, 1954 5 sheets-sheet 3 BY Mm,

United States Patent O 2,711,182 FOLDING UMBRELLA Heinrich J. Kiel,Solingen-Wald, and Gunter VH. Granrath, Solingen-Weyer, Germany,assignors to Kortenbacll & Rauh K. G., Solingen-Weyer, GermanyApplication August 18, 1954, Serial No. 450,631 Claims priority,application Germany August 21, 1953 Claims. (Cl. 13S-Z5) The presentinvention relates to a folding umbrella having a shank composed ofsections telescopically movable into each other and having foldableribs. The heretofore known folding umbrellas of this type are relativelyawkward in operation, especially when the umbrella is to be placed intoreadiness for use. Customarily, when opening up the umbrella, -theumbrella has to be held upwardly so that the folded back -outer ribsections, together with the umbrella cover, will dropdown. During thisoperation, it is also in most instances neces sary manually to unfoldsome of the ribs;

`it is, therefore, an object of 'the present invention to provide afolding umbrella which will overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.

it is another object of this invention to provide a folding umbrellawhich can be opened up (in a far simpler manner than was possible withumbrellas heretofore known. l

lt is a still further object of this invention to provide a foldingumbrella which can easily be opened up without having -to hold theumbrella shank in -a vertical direction with the rib sections up. f

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear moreclearly from the following specitication in connection with Vtheaccompanying drawings, in which y Fig. l illustrates a portion of anumbrella according -to the invention with the rib shown therein incompletely opened up position.

Fig. 2 illustrates an intermediate step between the unopened and fullyopened position of the umbrella.

Fig. 3 shows vthe end of the inner rib portion on a scale somewhatlarger than that used in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 shows a portion of an umbrella somewhat 'modified over that ofFig. land provided with a slide slidable on the rib lever.

Fig. 5 is an intermediate position similar toy that Vof fV Fig. 2 butfor the 'embodiment of the umbrella of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 represents the end of the yinner rib of the umbrella of Fig. 4but on a larger scale than that used in Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 shows a view of the slide.

Fig. Sis a cross-section taken along the line VIII-VIII of Fig. 7. l

Fig. 9 is a modification of the slide of Fig. 7.

Figs. .10 and 1l illustrate a further embodiment of the invention.

General arrangement Vouter end of the inner rib section.

2,711,182 Patented vJune 21;, 1955 2 their opened up position, but it isalso possible to open up the umbrella in different positions, forinstance, in a horizontal position, because itis not necessary -to makeuse vof the gravity action :by holding the umbrella upright to cause'the outer ribsections to fold downwardly. f

In order to guide the zpulling means, the latter is, lfor instance,passed or threaded through an opening at'the This results -in a Verysimple guiding for the pulling means. Similarly, the rib lever -has -its'outer end rprovided with a Vbore or the like through which :one endoffthe pulling means is passed. n

In order further to -improve the action of the pulling means, thepulling means may, in 4conformity with 4a further embodiment of theinvention, be connected with a slide slidable upon an end section of therib lever, in which instance the pulling `means is not directlyconnected or fastened to the rib lever. This arrangement yields a verygood adjustability of the pulling means with regard -to its action uponthe outer rib section. Preferably, an abutment, for instance, a pin,clamping ring or the like is arranged o n the rib lever.V Suchanabutment will prevent theslide with the pulling means from sliding onthe rib lever too Ifar toward the runner on 'the shank.

Advantageously, the slide isY 'simultaneously used for fastening theloop-shaped pulling means. The ends of the thread serving as pullingmeans are threaded through holes in the ears kof the slide whichrepresents a ben't sheetmetal element. However, fit valsopossible topass the thread through an opening inthe slide and an aperture in theouter rib section andl to interconnect the ends of the thread by meansof a sheet metal 4claim) or 'the like. Also in 'this Vmanner a very goodclosure of the loop 'i'srobtained Structural rrtmgemen'tconsists, `forinstance, incustomary manner-of lthe two Y sections 1 and Z-'which'fcafnbe movedinto yeach other in a-'telescopic manner. Pivotally connected tothe top 3 fof the umbrella are the-inner 'rib sections 4 whichl arelinked `to ythe runner '6 by means of the rib lever 5. -The `outer vendsof Athe inner r'ib sections 4 have pivotally connected thereto theAouter -rib sections '7.

VIn order to 'obtain anauto'matic 4open-ing and folding of the louter'rib sections, accord'ingto the invention ethere is provided a pullingmeans 8, for ins'tance,'=a synthetic thread. Asv will fbe seen from Fig.l, the said pulling means 8 extends Ifrom approximately the `inner endofthe outer rib section 7 to the -outer end section of the rib lever 5.The thread -8 is passed through an openingj9 (Fig. 3) of the inner 'ribsection 4 and extends,- forinstance, in aloop-like ymanneraroundtheinner -endof the outer rib section 7. Y f

Fig. -2 illustrates by dashed li-nes how the outer rib 'section-istilted away from the inner rib section. When `the runner `6 is -movedtowards the top 3 of the umbrella, the thread f8 `is -tensionedfso that-it exerts a -force upon the outer umbrella section 7 inlorder to causethe latter to swing into a-l'ignrnentwith'the inner 4rib section ,-4.This pulling effect exerted upon the outer rib section remainsmaintained when the umbrella is completely folded up.

The elements of the modifications shown in Figs. 4 to 10 whichcorrespond to the elements of Fig. 1 are designated with the samereference numerals used in Figs. 1 to 3 with-the exception that thereference numerals of Figs. 4 to 6 have the additional character a,while the corresponding reference numerals of Figs. l and ll have theadditional character b.

According to the invention, the thread serving as a pulling means isfixedly connected to the inner end of the outer rib section. This may bedone, for instance in conformity with the embodiment of Fig. 6, bypassing the thread through a corresponding opening 10 in the flat end ofthe outer rib section 7a. In order to improve the effect of the pullingmeans, a slide 11 is slidably mounted on the rib lever 5a. In thisinstance the thread 8 represents a loop and both ends of said loop areconnected with each other within the slide 11 (see Fig. 7). The slide 11is provided with two ears 12 which have apertures 13 through which theends of the thread S are passed a number of times, as is clearly visiblefrom Fig. 7.

ln order to prevent the slide 11 from sliding too far inwardly towardthe runner 6 when the umbrella is in its folded together position, therib lever is provided with an abutment which according to the embodimentof Fig. 7 is represented by a small pin 14. the embodiment shown in Fig.9, the rib lever 5b has mounted thereon an abutment in form of aclamping ring 15 which is passed around and tixedly clamped to the riblever 5b.

In order to facilitate the fastening of the ends of the thread, it isalso possible as shown in Fig. 9 to provide the slide 11 with oneaperture 13 only and to pass the loop through the aperture 13. in thisinstance, the two ends of the thread are then held together by a sheetmetal clamp 16 through which not only the two ends of the loop but alsothe other loop portion may be passed, thereby holding the loop together.The clamp 16 may preferably beso designed that the end surfaces of thisclamp are bent outwardly as shown in Fig. 9 so that the sharp edges ofthe clamp cannot exert a shearing force upon the thread 8, whichpreferably is made of synthetic material.

The folding together of an umbrella according to the present inventionis effected in the manner customary with folding umbrellas heretoforeknown, inasmuch as the pulling thread 8 will exert no functionwhatsoever during this folding together operation.

Referring now to the embodiment shown in Figs. 10 and l1,-the pullingmeans represented by the thread 1'! is passed through a bore in theslide 11d, which slide is slidable on the rib lever 5b between theabutment clamp 15 and the pivot carrying clamp 18 on the inner ribsection 4b. The thread 17 furthermore passes through a bore at the outerend 19 of the outer rib section '7b while the ends of the thread 17 arelikewise held ltogether by a ment, there is thus obtained a pullingeffect by the thread 17 upon the outer ends of the outer rib sections.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is by nomeans limited to the particular embodiments shown in the drawings butalso comprises any modifications within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What we claim is:

1. In combination in a folding umbrella: a shank, an inner rib section,means hingedly connecting one end of said inner rib section to saidshank, an outer rib section hingedly connected to the other end of saidinner rib section, a runner slidably mounted on said shank and movableselectively in a first direction for opening up the In conformity withhinged to said runner and having its other end hinged to umbrella or ina second direction for collapsing and folding together the umbrella, rodmeans having one end hinged to said runner and having its other endhinged to said inner rib section, said inner rib section being providedwith a bore adjacent its outer end, and pulling means operativelyconnected-to said rod means and pass.-

ing through said bore of said inner rib section whiley upon said outerrib section for bringing the latter into axial alignment with said innerrib section.

2. In combination in a folding umbrella: a shank, .an

inner rib section, means hingedly connecting one end of said inner ribsection to said shank, an outer rib section hingedly connected to theother end ofsaid inner rib section, a runner slidably mounted on saidshank and movable selectively in a first direction for opening up theVumbrella or in a second direction'for collapsing and folding togetherthe umbrella, rod means having Vone end said inner rib section, a slideslidablyy mounted-onsaid rod means, and pulling means having one endportion connected to said slide and having its other end portionconnected to the inner end portion of the outer rib section.

3. An umbrella according to claim 2 in which said rod 'l' means isprovided with an abutment means for limitingV the movement of said slidetowardv said runner.

4. In combination in a folding umbrella: a shank, an

inner rib section, means hingedly connecting onerend of said inner ribsection to said shank,` an outer rib section" hingedly connected to theother end of said -inner rib section, a runner slidably mounted on saidshankand movable selectively in a first direction for openingup theumbrella or in-a seconddirectionfor collapsing and folding together theumbrella, rod means having one Vend i hinged to said runner and havingits other end hinged to said inner rib section, a slide slidably mountedon/said rod means, and provided with an ear having bores therethrough,and pulling cord means forming a loop and having its ends threadedthrough said bores while the oppoj site loop portion of said pullingcord means engages sai outer rib section.

5. In combination in a folding umbrella: a shank, an j inner ribsection, means hingedly connecting one end of said inner rib section tosaid shank, an outer rib section hingedly connected to the other end ofsaid inner rib section, a runner slidably mounted on said shank andmovable selectively in a first direction for opening up the y umbrellaor in a second direction for collapsing and folding together theumbrella, rod means having one end hinged to said runner and having litsother end hinged to said inner rib section, a slide slidably mounted onsaid rod means, said slide being provided with a passage, said outer ribsection also being provided with a passage adjacent one end thereof,cord means passed through said first mentioned and said second mentionedpassage so as to K form a complete loop, and means for clamping andholdingthe free ends of said loop together.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS EelesIan. 17, 1939 Militano c Aug. 18,1953#

